


True Blood - Truth Boys ?

by MDFawn



Category: As the World Turns RPF, True Blood Crossover (sort of)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 01:58:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3673266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MDFawn/pseuds/MDFawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when our favorite Boys get cast together (again)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Do not copy/duplicate this work.

 

 

 _ **Baptiste:**_

 _You think that you can escape what this is, Guillaume, but you can’t.  I won’t let you.  No matter how many times I die.  No matter how many times you run away from us.  I’ll always find you.  
(Baptiste steps up into Guillaume’s space and takes the knife and cuts a nic into his own wrist.  Blood trickles out)_

 

 

 __ **Guillaume:**  
(His eyes’ roll back in his head at the scent of the fresh blood)  
Why? (he whines)  
You know it’s going to happen one day.  Why do you keep coming after me?

 

 

 

 

 __ **Baptiste:**  
Because we belong to each other.  
(He raises his wrist, blood glistening, up to Guillaume’s mouth) Go ahead, mon amour, feed.

 

 

 

 

 __ **Guillaume:**  
(Fighting the urge to latch on and feed on Baptiste’s bloody wrist)  
Why are you doing this to me?  To us?  
(Guillaume gives in and grabs Baptiste’s wrist and starts feeding.   
Baptiste sighs as if experiencing an intense orgasm.)

   ‘Damn.  That’s hot.’  Van laughed to himself as he sat back in the chair and repeated Baptiste’s last line five times.  That was his lucky number of times to repeat something when trying to memorize new lines.     

 

    He looked up at the receptionist, Tess, to see that she was trying to pretend that she wasn’t just watching him practice his lines.  Practicing while waiting for his third and hopefully final audition for the part of Baptiste, one half of the new couple on True Blood.  The “gay” Bill and Sookie as it were.

 

    It had been totally unexpected when his agent had called almost a month ago to say that the news had come out that they were casting this new couple on one of cable televisions most popular shows.

 

        He had breezed through the first two auditions.  He’d felt good about them.  Felt he had gotten into the head of the character of Baptiste.  Well, as much as you could get into the head of a murderous French prostitute that no matter how many times he died, every time he was reborn, remembered Guillaume, a vampire and their love, their desire, their need to be as one.

 

    Now here he sat in the LA offices of the production company for True Blood and nobody in his life knew about it, except for Tyler.  He shook his head at his own superstitions.  He didn’t want to jinx himself.  Just like the rubber bands he wore for luck, he didn’t usually tell people about the jobs he went out for until after he did or didn’t get them.

 

    If he got this one, the biggest job he’d ever gone out for, he’d have to first explain to his parents how, ‘yeah I’m on one of the highest rated shows on cable but no, you can’t watch it because, you know, with all the simulated male sex you’d probably have a heart attack watching it, mom and dad.’

 

      Telling his friends would be easier because they’d all kill for the same job and opportunity.  Okay, well maybe not all of his friends would be easy to tell.  Yeah, Jake would pretty much kill him.  He snorted thinking about the reaction he’d get from Jake.  He’d be totally pumped that Van got the part, and he’d also be totally pissed that he didn’t tell him.

 

    He looked down at the scene he was to perform today with the other actor auditioning for the role of Guillaume.  His love interest, his soul mate, his eternal love.  The producer wanted to see the chemistry.  This was going to be an instant media buzz and they were investing heavily in this pairing so they needed the chemistry to be right.  In other words, hot.

 

      After all, this was cable, no chasted kisses or fade to bed with this show.  Van took a deep breath.  He’d said it on many occasions that he didn’t like doing nude scenes.  He was perfectly fine without the love scenes.  Well, this was cable and he REALLY wanted this part and they did do love scenes.  They did do nude scenes and he was just going to have to man up and deal.

 

      He hoped he’d get someone cool to work with.  He remembered thinking the same thing when As The World Turns was casting the role of Noah and fate had smiled on him and given him Jake as a co-star.  He’d lucked out and gotten a cool acting partner and a best friend out of the deal.  Van was doubtful that he’d be that lucky twice in his acting life.  He was now just hoping for someone easygoing.

 

     Van dropped his head back and closed his eyes.  ‘God, I wish Jake had the other role.’  He quietly thought in the back of his mind.  He knew the scenes that were going to be asked of him and he was scared.  He knew if Jake had been there to act with he would have no problems.  He knew Jake would have his back but, ‘not this time Hansis.’

 

       He opened his eyes as he heard Tess clear her throat.  “Mr. Ball is ready for you, Mr. Hansis.”

 

      Van took a deep breath and quickly got up, gripping his script and hurried toward the door on the other side of the reception area.

 

       “Van.”  A deep voice greeted him even before he was all the way through the door.

 

       “Mr. Ball.”  Van smiled as he came through and gripped the outstretched hand of Alan Ball, the Executive Producer of True Blood.

 

      “So are you ready to get this role?”  The broadly smiling man asked.

 

       “What?  I don’t have it already?”  He shot back with a chuckle.

 

       Mr. Ball laughed too.  “As long as you two have the right chemistry.”

 

       Van took a seat while Alan walked over and took his seat behind the table he had his work spread out on.  “Unfortunately, you might have to wait a half hour.  He was in Europe last week and was supposed to fly back yesterday but his flight was delayed in Heathrow.”  Alan chuckled again.  “The guy’s such a Boy Scout.  He’s been calling me every time he lands to let me know he’s on the way.  He just called from LAX an hour ago when he landed and he’s on his way.”

 

       “Not a problem.”  Van smiled.  “Is he anyone I would have heard of?”

 

      “I’m not sure.  I hadn’t until my assistant had gone through the resumes that came in and dropped his head shot on my desk.”  Alan leaned back in his chair.  “He came in about two weeks ago and read and immediately I knew he was our Guillaume.”

 

     What Alan didn’t say to Van is that as soon as Van had walked in he had felt the same about him as their Baptiste, but he had been burned before when casting “Six Feet Under.”  Liking two different actors for each part of a couple, but when they had auditioned together . . . nothing.  That had been hard going back to square one trying to find the right combination.  He hoped he wouldn’t be witnessing a replay of that today.

 

     The phone on the table buzzed and as he picked it up, Van could feel his heart start to beat faster.  This was it.  He was about to meet the man that he hoped would be the other half of this couple that Mr. Ball hoped to be True Blood’s next great thing.

 

      “Finally.  Send him in, Tess.”  Alan smiled as he hung up the phone.  “He’s here, Van.”

 

      The door quickly opened and both Alan and Van turned to greet the visibly flustered man rushing into the room.  Van’s smile froze on his face as he watched Alan walk over to shake the hand of the out of breath man.

 

      “I’m so sorry I’m late, Mr. Ball.”  The man started but was cut off by Alan.

 

     “Not a problem.”  He turned to Van not noticing his frozen smile.  “Van, this is Jake Silvermann.  Jake, this is Van Hansis.”

 

     “Silbermann.”  Jake and Van both said at the same time as they stared at each other in shock.

 

     “Silbermann.  Right.  I’m sorry, Jake.”  Alan said as he turned away obviously not hearing Van’s response.  “Now, are you two ready?”

 

     Jake and Van both watched the man as he turned back to his desk and seemed to be searching through his papers for something.

 

      “Yes.”  Jake whispered with a look of confusion on his face.  Could it be possible that Mr. Ball had no idea about him and Van.  He shot a look of “WTF” at Van who just shrugged in wonder and a little fear.  If he knew about their past on As The World Turns would he want them as a couple on True Blood?

 

      “Well, let’s see if it’s there.”  Alan said as he finally made his way back to his chair and dropped down into it.       “It?”  Van said with a distinctive squeak in his voice.

 

      “Chemistry, Van. Chemistry.”  Alan smiled trying to put the two men at ease.  “Why don’t you two take a few minutes and talk, feel each other out and then we’ll see how the scene plays out?”

 

     Jake and Van stood frozen in place for a second.  Jake was the first to pull himself out of it as he headed to the back of the room and dropped his messenger bag on the floor and pulled out his script.  When he saw Alan pull out his Blackberry and quickly start punching the screen Van silently made his way over to Jake and they casually turned their backs to the producer.

 

     “What the hell are you doing here?”  Van whispered as he pretended to look at this script.

 

     “What the hell am I doing here?  What the hell are you doing here?”  Jake whispered back, quickly looking over his shoulder toward Mr. Ball still working on his Blackberry.

 

     “When did you start auditioning for this?  Why didn’t you tell me?”  Van said, unexpectedly feeling hurt that Jake hadn’t shared the fact that he’d been auditioning for his favorite show with him.

 

     “About two weeks ago.  Van, you’re auditioning for Baptiste?  I can’t believe this.”  Jake said in a dazed voice.  “Why didn’t you say something?”

 

     “You know my superstitions.  I never tell anyone when I’m auditioning for something.”  Van said as he looked up into Jake’s eyes.  “Well, this is awkward.  What should we do, he obviously doesn’t know we know each other or about Luke and Noah.”

 

     Jake shook his head.  “I have no idea.”

 

     Van stood biting his bottom lip and watching Alan work on his Blackberry.  He and Jake had to make a decision soon.  He looked up at Jake.  “I think we should go ahead and do the scene, use the fact that we know each other as acting partners and kill this scene.  If he offers the job to us then we tell him before we accept the roles.”

 

    Jake looked dubious.  “I don’t know, Van.”

 

    “Look, if he doesn’t like the scene, doesn’t see the chemistry and we don’t get the roles it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know.”  Van took a deep breath.  “But if he likes it, sees the heat he’s looking for in this coupling then maybe it won’t even matter to him.”

 

    “Van?”  Jake nearly whined, confusion written all over his face.

 

    “Jake, do you want this role?”  Van asked his friend.  He knew how much Jake loved True Blood, had been talking about the show since it had first aired.  “Jake?”

 

    “Yes, Van.”  Jake whispered back.  “Of course I want it.”

 

    “So do I.  Let’s do this scene and make it hotter than even he’s hoping for and then there will be no way, even after we tell him about Luke and Noah, he cannot offer us the roles.”  Van said with conviction.

 

     Jake smiled shyly and looked down at the script in his hand.

 

      “What?”  Van asked as he ducked his head trying to catch his seemingly embarrassed friend’s eyes.

 

     “I’m . . . “ Jake started and then stopped.  He looked up and smiled one of his best Jake adorkable grins.  “I’m glad it’s you.”

 

     Van didn’t have to ask what he meant because he knew exactly how Jake felt.  Even though when Jake had walked through the door he’d been totally flabbergasted, he immediately felt a sense of calm come over him.  Jake.  Jake was going to play opposite him.  Jake, who he knew would always have his back in front of the camera.

 

     “Let’s do this.”  Jake smiled.  “I think we’re going to have to go for the intensity of the ‘Old Town Make-up’ scene only times 20.”

 

    “Ya think.”  Van smirked.

 

    They both turned at the same time and Alan looked up.  “You guys ready?”

 

    “Yes.”  They both answered at the same time.  Van smiled shyly knowing that they were already in sync for the scene.

 

    Mr. Ball sat forward eagerly with his elbows on the table in front of them as they set themselves up.

 

    They looked over and shook their heads at Mr. Ball.

 

    “And action!”  He said quietly.

 

     Van took a deep breath and immediately got himself into the head of Baptiste, the dark, conniving, French street prostitute who, for whatever reason and at the moment unknown how, followed his lover through time. 

 

 

             _“You think that you can escape what this is, Guillaume, but you can’t.  I won’t let you.  No matter how many times I die.  No matter how many times you run away from us.  I’ll always find you.”_ Van stepped up into Jake’s space, giving him a sultry smirk.  He takes out the imaginary knife and pretends to cut a small nic in his wrist.

 

              Jake was already in the zone.  Guillaume had intrigued him since he’d gotten the script.  A vampire that regretted ever becoming one and refusing to make the man he’d fallen in love with one, but also powerless to deny the knot fate had made of their lives.  Jake rolled his eyes back.  Seeming to inhale the scent of the imaginary blood from Van, no, Baptiste’s wrist.               _“Why?_ He nearly whimpered.  _“You know it’s going to happen one day.  Why do you keep coming after me?”_

 

            Van/Baptiste’s smirk deepened as he leaned into his lover.  _“Because we belong to each other.”_ Van raised his wrist that would be bleeding in the scene up toward Jake’s . . . Guillaume’s mouth.  _“Go ahead, mon amour, feed.”_ Van whispered. 

 

    The door behind Alan silently opened and in came his assistant, Leslie.  She stopped, frozen as she realized that the “final” audition for Guillaume and Baptiste was underway.  The fact that she’d walked in on the audition isn’t what froze her, the participants had.

 

    “You’re shitting me!”  She breathed out involuntarily.

 

     “Cut!”  Alan yelled.  “Leslie!”

 

    She had immediately clapped a hand over her mouth as she realized what had leapt into her mind had actually came out of her mouth for the whole room to hear.

 

    “Sorry, Alan.”  She blushed as she looked embarrassingly over at the two actors that now stood paralyzed in their character’s pose.  Van hastily dropped his wrist away from Jake’s mouth.  Jake stood there watching the new arrival.  He had a slight look of . . . fear in his eyes as he watched her.

 

    “What the hell was that about anyway?”  Alan looked at his assistant.

 

     “Them.”  She said and jerked a thumb in Van and Jake’s direction.

 

    “Them?”  Alan asked, confused.

 

     Leslie looked at her boss in astonishment and then over at Van and Jake who now both wore looks of shock and fear.  ‘Alan doesn’t know’ Leslie thought as she looked back at her waiting boss.  ‘And they haven’t told him.’

 

    “Oh . . . well.”  She stammered trying to find a way out of the situation she had inadvertently stumbled into.  “Well, they’re HOT!”

 

    Alan just continued looking at her as if she’d just sprouted three heads.  “Yeah, I know that’s kind of why I want to hire them.”  He turned back to the guys.  “Why don’t we take it from the last line, guys?”

 

    Leslie took a seat next to Alan at the table.  There was no way she was going to miss this.

            Van and Jake both quickly looked at each other and resumed their pose.  Van raised his wrist back up to Jake’s mouth and closed his eyes.  Concentrating.  Reaching down and pulling out Baptiste.  He opened his eyes and leered at Jake.

 

            Jake was struck by the naked heat that was pulsing out of Van’s eyes.  He quickly centered himself and seamlessly stepped into Guillaume.

             _“Go ahead, mon amour, feed.”_  Van whispered.

 

            Jake/Guillaume fought the urge to reach out and feed on the blood of his lover.  _“Why are you doing this to me?  To us?”_ Guillaume couldn’t deny it any longer and lunged for Baptiste’s wrist.  Grabbing it and bringing it to his mouth and started feeding.

 

            Van was startled by the sensation of Jake’s mouth sucking on the sensitive skin on the inside of his wrist.  He knew that Jake . . . Guillaume he had to remind himself again, would have his mouth on his skin but this was unexpectedly . . . erotic.

 

            Involuntarily Van/Baptiste sighed as if experiencing an intense orgasm.

 

 _“You have to stop asking me, Baptiste.”_ Guillaume begged as he pulled his lips away from Baptiste’s bloody wrist.   _“You have no idea what it’s like to be what I am.”_

 

            _“ When will you understand that I don’t care what it takes, I want us to be together always.”_ Baptiste whispered fiercely as he leaned in and ran his tongue up the column of Guillaume’s neck setting off a full-body shudder like it did every. single. time.

 

            It didn’t matter how many lifetimes they had been through, each time Baptiste died when he was born again, he always found his way back to Guillaume.

 

            _“It’s always been you and always will be.”_ Baptiste breathed into his ear.

  


             _“You don’t have any idea what you’re asking.”_ Guillaume whispered as he stood with his eyes closed, trying desperately to center himself.  Anytime Baptiste was this close he found it difficult to concentrate.

 

            Every lifetime it happened the same, Baptiste would somehow find him.  Guillaume would try and fight the all consuming desire and he’d lose.  They would come together and Baptist would start the torture.  The constant requests of Guillaume to turn him.  To make him a vampire.  Eternal.

 

             It would be so easy because he wanted that eternity with Baptiste.  To forever be together.  To not have to watch lifetime after lifetime as Baptiste grew old and died each and every time.  But he couldn’t do it.  Not even to free himself from the repeated despair of watching the one he loved most die over and over again, leaving him more alone with each passing.

 

              How could he replace that hell with another.  Vampire.  The constant torment of hunger.  The constant desire to kill and feed, never to feel the mortality that gives life it’s passion, instead of simple existence.              _“I know exactly what I’m asking.”_ Baptiste nearly hissed as he pulled away from his lover.  His eyes blazing as he glared at Guillaume in frustration and anger.

 

             _“If you won’t turn me, I will find another who will.”_ He said as he seemingly turned away casually with a knowing smirk and evil glint in his eyes.

 

            If it were at all possible for a vampire’s blood to boil that would describe the feeling Guillaume experienced at Baptiste’s threat. Guillaume had seen Baptist go to extremes over and over again, through many lifetimes in order to get what he wanted.  After killing innocents in order to feed your vampire lover, nothing else was really that out of the question.

 

            Anger flared in Guillaume’s brain.  The very thought of another vampire touching, feeding, bonding, turning Baptiste was enough to drive him insane and he knew without a doubt that Baptiste would do it.  His drive to be turned was that strong and others wouldn’t care about the torture this new existence might be because they themselves gave into the evil of the blood letting.  The taking of souls without the inconvenient feelings of guilt or remorse.

 

            The vision of Baptiste’s body and mind intertwined with another blazed in his mind.  Turning always created a link between vampire and the newly turned.  Guillaume knew from experience the sexual desire that arose from that experience.  Desire pouring out as quickly as the blood.  Hot, pulsing, replete in the power of the essence of life that the blood provided.

 

            Van had little warning when Jake looked up as he played his part and saw a fierce look in his eyes.  A burning . . . something in his eyes . . . Guillaume’s eyes.

 

            Van found himself suddenly and violently shoved into the wall behind him with a fierce, sexual Jake pressed up against him.

 

            _“You’re mine, Baptiste.  No one elses.”_ Jake rasped out the line.  He’d startled even himself with the force that he’d pushed Van, but as always Van was right there with him.  He watched as the surprise that had appeared in Van’s eyes almost immediately turned to a smoldering, intense look.  Van’s mouth was now turned up into a smirk.         

 

               _“I’m sure someone else would turn me in a moment.  Of course, he’d want my . . . gratitude.”_ Van/Baptiste laughed seductively as he ran his hands down Jake/Guillaume’s arms.

 

      

  


     The scene for the audition was to have ended there but Van and Jake were both too caught in the scene.  Jake slammed his right palm against the wall as he felt Van’s hands slip down his thighs.  Both were startled as Mr. Bell yelled “CUT” and he and his assistant started babbling off information to one another, the two actors momentarily forgotten.

 

    Jake stood, breathing heavily into Van’s neck.  The warm puffs of air over Van’s already overheated skin a reminder of just how close they were.  Van fought the sudden urge to reach up and caress the man that was obviously fighting for control.  Jake slowly pulled away from the body that he was plastered against.  They stood there, chests quickly rising and falling as they both tried to compose themselves, only realizing then how far they had both gotten lost in the characters and the moment.

 

    Van shifted uncomfortably, his jeans suddenly almost too tight.  His face heating up in embarrassment as he realized his source of discomfort was a quickly forming erection.  He turned away but not before Jake’s eyes had traveled downward and noticed the reason for his friends embarrassment.

 

    “Van?”  Jake asked, but was greeted with an awkward silence.

 

     Jake glanced over to the still animated discussion going on between Mr. Bell and his assistant as he took a step closer to Van and quietly placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.  He felt Van’s body tense at his touch.

 

    “We’re fine, Van.”  He whispered for his friends ears only.

 

    His friend quickly glanced up and Jake could see something in his friend’s eyes that he had seldom seen before . . . doubt.

 

     Jake hesitated a moment but whatever reassurance, comfort, or stupid Silbermann remark that was about to pop out was interrupted by a grinning Executive Producer.

 

    “I knew it.”  Mr. Bell smirked as he quickly crossed the room stopping in front of them and placed an almost fatherly hand on each of their shoulders.  They could both see an equally beaming Leslie over Mr. Bell’s shoulder secretly giving them a silent thumbs up.

 

     “Well, I think that performance just proved why I am the God of Casting.”  Mr. Bell laughed.  “I think we can safely say that the parts are yours.”

 

     Van and Jake both stood there stunned, awkwardness forgotten. 

 

    “That’s what you were looking for?  We’re who you want for this?”  Van stammered out as he looked over at a surprisingly fearful looking Jake.

 

      The producer’s eyes nearly bugged out with Van’s question.  “Are you kidding me.  If we can get that on film, we’re golden.  Hope you Boys are ready to become household names.”

 

     They still stood, unmoving, in front of the smiling producer.  Jake shot a quick glance over to his friend.  “Yeah, about that, Mr. Bell.”

 

    The Producer waited as both actors seemed to become more and more nervous.  Van had visibly paled and seemed to have taken an intense interest in the carpet pattern on the floor, while Jake’s hand were suddenly stuffed so far down in his cargo pants pockets that he could probably tie his shoes.

 

     “See, we probably should tell you something.  Something about us before you make us that offer.”  Jake swallowed as he looked over to Van, eyes begging for help.

 

    “This isn’t the first time we’ve acted together, sir.”  Van quietly said as he finally looked up at the slightly confused Producer.

 

     “And we should have said something, but we honestly didn’t know until we walked in that the other was auditioning for these roles.”  Jake tried to help as his words tumbled over Van’s.

 

     Mr. Bell was silent for a moment as he looked from one actor to the other.  Van and Jake trying to gage the reaction that they might get from the larger than life Hollywood producer in front of them.  Hoping that what he had just seen would outweigh any reservation he might have about re-pairing them.

 

     A low chuckle was their answer as a slow smile again spread across the man’s face.  Mr. Bell glanced over his shoulder at Leslie and her face that had, unseen by everyone, been frozen when she realized that the actors were about to come clean relaxed.   Van and Jake shifted and glanced nervously at each other as they watched the laughing producer.

 

     “Boys, I know about Luke and Noah.  Didn’t when you first auditioned, Van.”  Mr. Bell said as he turned back to the men.  “When your audition went so well, Van,  I U-Tubed your As The World Turns’ performances and up popped “Nuke."

 

    Van was smiling in relief but Jake had a sudden, nagging doubt starting to grow in the pit of his stomach.  “That was before I auditioned, right?”

 

    Van froze as he listened to his friends question and the implications that it raised.  He looked over at Jake only to find him looking down, almost embarrassed.

 

     “Yes, Silbermann, it was.”  Mr. Bell answered.

 

    “So when you or your staff saw my head shot and my resume come across your desk it was because of Nuke and the fact that Van had already auditioned that you asked me in, not because . . . “ Jake was nearly whispering.

 

    “Bullshit!”  Mr. Bell cut him off.

 

    Jake’s head snapped up at the exclamation from the man.  Looking up expecting to see irritation, even anger he was surprised to still see a huge smile on the man’s face.  “What?”

 

    “Jake, do you know how many projects I’m involved in?”  Mr. Bell asked, obviously rhetorically since he continued without waiting for a response.  “A few.  The casting company goes through all the materials that actors submit, they narrow it down, then my people go through it and narrow it down, then they set up the auditions.  When you walked into the audition it was only you and two other contenders.  Was I surprised that I recognized you when you walked in, yes.  But after your audition, like Van, I knew we had our Guillaume.”

 

    Van watched, he could still see the doubt plainly on Jake’s face.  A doubt he knew he, himself, would surely have if he were in Jake’s shoes.  Wondering if you had gotten the role that you had dreamed about solely because of your talent or for some other reason.

 

     “So, my original audition didn’t have anything to do with As The World Turns?”  Jake asked.

 

     “You got through the process because you’re damn good, Jake.”  Mr. Bell sighed as he watched the younger man.  “Did I want to see you two together to see if it was still there?  Yes.  But I’m offering these roles to you because you both are great actors and because you have the connection, the chemistry, I need for these roles.  You may have been good on As The World Turns, but I need you two to be great on True Blood and I think you will be.”

 

     Jake stood wondered if he should be concerned that maybe Nuke had something to do with him possibly getting this part, but than it dawned on him . . . who cares.  Everything he’d done, hell everything Van had done, had gotten them both to this point.  Being offered a choice role on a top rated show.  Yeah, mama Silbermann didn’t raise any fools.

 

    “Are those parts still ours, Mr. Bell?”  Jake smiled as he looked over at a relieved Van.

 

    “All right than.”  Mr. Bell said as he clapped them both on the shoulders and then turned and walked back to his desk.  He picked up his Blackberry and seemed to realize something.  “And don’t think that I or HBO are anything like Goutman or CBS.”

 

    Van looked up from the backpack he had been stuffing his script into. He looked over to Jake who was similarly getting his messenger bag together.  “Sir?”

 

    “We eat organizations like the American Family Association for breakfast.”  The producer grinned in what could only be described as an evil manner.  “Goutman and CBS were pussies.”

 

    Jake’s grinning face was mirrored by an equally grinning Van.  Yeah, cable was looking pretty good from their point of views right now. 

  


* * *

  


    The plastic bags made a gentle squishing noise as he dropped them on the curb.  Van shivered in the early morning breeze.  He was right, it was a game changer the West Coast.  It was October but it was going to be in the mid to upper 70s.

 

     He glanced down at the trash bags at his feet.  Funny how a ten year relationship could be reduced and complied into just this when it was all said and done.

 

    Tyler had come out with Van to California, found a place they both liked that was just close enough to the business but far enough way.  Van had thought they were happy.  That they were continuing on their life together.  Tyler had been happy when Van had gotten the call about the part on True Blood.  After the first audition had gone so well they had even discussed the nudity and sex scenes that were going to be involved if he got the part.

 

    Tyler had been cool, understanding, secure in their relationship and just glad that Van might have a chance to be on a cable show that he had wanted so bad.  That was until he had come home and announced that, “yes, I did get the part.”

 

    Tyler had been overjoyed, planning the celebration dinner until he had asked who the other half of the couple would be.  Did he know him?

 

    Van had been . . . surprised when the all encompassing smile on his own face was not reflected on Tyler’s face when Jake’s name was said.

 

     “Jake?  Jake who?”  He has asked slowly.

 

     “Silbermann, silly.  What other Jake do we know.”  Van had smiled and turned to head into the kitchen to grab a water from the refrigerator.  He was surprised when he returned to the living room to find that his boyfriend hadn’t moved and wore a distinctly displeased look on his face.

 

    “Jake Silbermann was auditioning for and got the other role and you didn’t know anything about it?”  He asked in a disbelieving manner.

 

    “No, isn’t that the weirdest thing.”  Van smiled back, oblivious to the growing look of irritation on the other man’s face.  The silence that followed broke through Van’s euphoria as he looked at this boyfriend.

 

    “What’s wrong?  I thought you were all for me getting this role?  We agreed that it would be great for my career.”  Van asked, his own irritation beginning.

 

    Tyler looked thoughtful.  “I did when it was you and another actor.  Now it just seems like a Luke and Noah redux.”     Van stood stunned at the words he had just heard.

 

    “Mr. Ball didn’t have any idea about this?”  Tyler asked skeptically.

 

    “He did, but he said that it didn’t have anything to do with us getting this job.”  Van forced out a whisper.

 

     “And you’re fine with this?  You don’t think this is a bad thing?” Tyler snarked.

 

    “Yes, I’m fine with it.”  Van finally snapped.  “But obviously you’re not.”

 

    They stood still, staring at each other in the small living room.

 

     “Well?”  Van breathed.

 

    “I just think it’s a bad idea.”  Tyler looked away.

 

    “Really?”  Van said as he crossed his arms over his chest.  “Because you didn’t think it was that bad of an idea when you thought I was going to have hot, simulated, male sex,  _ **repeatedly**_  I might add, with some stranger.  But now that that person is going to be Jake, one of my best friends, someone I feel comfortable with, now it’s a problem?”     Tyler just shook his head as he continued to look everywhere but at Van.

 

    “How does that make any sense?”  Van snapped as he angrily turned away from his silent boyfriend.  “I mean, this is going to be uncomfortable.  You know how I am about exposing myself and just the idea that the other person is going to be someone I totally trust and I know would never embarrass me or . . . “

 

    Van stopped mid-rant as he slowly turned around and took in the sight of his boyfriend’s tight face and clinched fists at his side.  “Unless, you’ve got something against Jake.”  Van waited.  “Do you?”

 

    He watched as his boyfriend slowly raised his eyes to meet his own and Van was shocked to see a look in those eyes that he hadn’t seen there since their college days.

 

     “You’re jealous?”  Van said in shock.  “Of Jake . . . and me?  Since when?”  He snapped out the questions.

 

    He honestly would have thought he had gotten it all wrong.  Somehow been mistaken in his assumption if it weren’t for the flush rushing up Tyler’s neck into his face.

 

     Van just couldn’t believe it.  After ten years together.  Three years of him and Jake kissing and hugging and being wrapped around each other at fan events and nothing from Tyler.  Now, when he’s gotten the part of a lifetime, his boyfriend decides he’s going to be jealous.  But as he watched Tyler standing in their living room, irritation growing, he wondered if he had always been jealous and somehow he had just missed it.  He thought back but honestly couldn’t remember any signs of jealous.

 

     “Answer me, Tyler.  Since when?”  Van asked.

 

    His boyfriend’s head snapped back at Van’s questions.  “Don’t even try to tell me that you aren’t aware he’s in love with you.”

 

    Van could swear that he heard the bang as his mouth dropped open and hit the floor.  Staring at Tyler, sure that somehow he’d missed the fact that his boyfriend had suddenly and inexplicably gone insane.  “I honestly don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about.”

 

    Tyler continued watching him.  “Of course you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.  It’s not like we finish each other sentences or know what the other is thinking.”

 

    “What?!?”  Van said in frustration.

 

     Tyler crossed the room right up into Van’s face.  “Do you know what it was like to go to the events and not even be allowed to be photographed with you?  Like I, we, didn’t even exist.”

 

    Van swallowed as he looked into the eyes of his boyfriend and could now see the hurt that was there.  He wondered, ‘had it been there all along?’  “You know that’s the way the game is played, Tyler.”

 

    “Not on Broadway.”  He snapped.  “I thought that’s where we were headed after Carnegie Mellon but then you’re auditioning for television.”

 

    “It was a job.”  Van said with a sigh.

 

     “Yeah.”  Tyler nodded his head.  “It was supposed to be a job then Nuke happened and then it was everywhere in our life.  Award shows that we should have been together at.  Premiers we should be going to together.  Everywhere we should have been, you were there with him.”

 

    Van reached out and grasped Tyler’s hands in his own.

 

     “Jake’s always been just a friend.  There’s nothing there.  That’s just crazy.”

 

     Tyler ripped his hands out of Van’s, turning away angrily.  “Jake said it in the Rock the Soap Q&A, you do do couply things.  You finish each others’ sentences.  You know what the others thinking before you even have to say anything.  You have that connection that everyone can see.”

 

    “That’s because we work together.”  Van shouted, trying to control his quickly rising anger.

 

     “We’ve been together for ten years and I’ve never finished your sentences.”  Tyler glared at him.  “Half the time I don’t have a clue what your thinking.”

 

     “Well that would be your problem.”  Van grated out.  “Not Jake’s.”

 

    “Have you even looked at the pictures of you two?  From events, the luncheons?”  Tyler asked quietly.

 

     Van just stared and then sighed, dropping his head.  “No, why?”

 

    “Maybe you should have.”  Tyler said as he sat down on the sofa, exhausted.  “There’s a way you look at him that the camera sometimes catches.  A look I haven’t seen in your eyes for me in while now.”

 

    Van watched as the boyfriend that he thought he knew better than anyone in the world sat picking at a small whole in his jeans.  Sighing again, he walked over and sank down beside him.

 

     “Jake’s not in love with me.”  He whispered.

 

    “Do you want him to be?”  Tyler asked.

 

    Van dropped his head back against the sofa back.  “Jake is straight.  He’s got Stephanie.  He’s not in love with me for Christ sake.”

 

    Tyler sat quietly.  He nodded his head once and got up.  He turned to walk toward the bedroom but turned back looking down at Van.  “He’s straight.  He’s got a girlfriend .  Funny, how you didn’t answer my question.  I guess that really is the answer, isn’t it.” 

  


* * *

  



	2. Chapter 2

  
    It was good to know that no matter what coast you were on you could always be assured of one thing, there would always be cold beer in Billy Magnuseen’s refrigerator.   Jake smiled at that thought as he dropped his wary butt onto Billy’s sofa and twisted off the cap of said guaranteed beer.

    He sighed deeply as the cold liquid ran down his throat and almost chocked with Billy’s next remark.

    “Dude, if you’re going to make those types of sex noises while you’re drinking my beer you need to go in your room and have some alone time with it.”  Billy laughed when he saw that his remark had the intended effect as Jake chocked and sputtered.

    Jake wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he glared at his friend.  “Asshole.”  And really that too was something that didn’t change no matter what coast you were on.

    Billy made a kissy face at his friend.  “You love me, Bitch, don’t deny it.  You followed me across the country.”  He smirked as he raised his beer to take another swallow.

    “Right, my big gay love for you.  It wasn’t the kick ass role I was just handed or anything.”  Jake laughed as he leaned back on the sofa staring up at the ceiling.  “Thanks again for letting me crash with you until I can find a place.”

    Billy smiled.  “Not a problem man.”

    They sat in companionable silence for a while.  It had been a long two days since Jake’s arrival from his cross country trip and the subsequent unpacking.

    Jake looked over at his friend when he heard a short snort escape him.  He could see amusement written on his face.

    “What?”  Jake asked as he finished off his beer and got up and grabbed two more from the refrigerator, handing one to Billy as he walked past and dropped back down onto the overstuffed sofa. 

    “It’s just weird how fate is, man.”  Billy said in a small voice as he casually glanced across at his friend.

    Jake arched his eyebrows in confusion at the statement.

    Billy leaned forward with his forearms on his knees, dangling his beer bottle from one hand.  “You don’t find it weird that the show you’ve wanted to be on since the day you first watched it hires you for their new ‘it’ couple and that unknown to you they just happen to hire one of your best friends and oh, yeah former co-star to be the other half.”  Billy raised the bottle and took a quick drink, his eyes never leaving Jake’s face.  “You don’t think that’s weird?”

    Jake quietly sat staring at his friend.  This wasn’t the first time in the last three weeks that he had been asked this.  Heck, it wasn’t even the tenth time.  The question had been asked by everyone from his girlfriend, who wasn’t his girlfriend any longer, to his mother who thought it was just adorable, to every single friend he had met to say good-bye to before heading out for LA.

    The thing is Jake had never thought it was weird because he had been too busy being thankful.  He had known when his agent had called about the new part on True Blood that taking on another gay character would be difficult and potentially problematic for his career.  He had never in the three years he had been playing Noah felt like he would be “pigeon holed” in any future roles but when this had been announced he had balked for a split second.

    The thing was that the part was just too good and the show too alluring to turn it down.  To say that he had been nervous about his new co-star would be an understatement.  Jake had been mentally preparing himself the whole time he had been in the Netherlands with the STUFFER screenings to totally hate his new co-star.  Really, after having the best opposite you for three years it was hard to imagine anyone filling that slot.

    When he had walked in and saw Van’s stunned but smiling face he had known that the roles were already theirs.  Fate?  Destiny?  Devine intervention?  Alan Bell?  He didn’t really care.

    He refocused on Billy and realized he hadn’t answered his friend’s question.  “I don’t think it’s weird.  I’m just glad it happened.” 

    “Really?”  Billy sat back taking a longer look at him as he sipped on his beer.

    “Really.”  Jake smiled at the skepticism in Billy’s voice.  “Billy, you’ve seen the show, right?  The love scenes?  You think they’re going to tone it down because it’s two dudes?  If anything it’s going to be even more explicit.” 

    “Yeah, about that.”  Billy nearly lunged off the sofa as he sat forward.  “You and Van in a sex scene.  A cable television, homosexual, sex scene.  Like ‘Queer As Folk’ inspired sex scenes.  Awkward much, dude?”

    Jake was shaking his head, no, before Billy had even finished the question.  “No, if anything it will make them easier.”

    “Really?”  Billy asked disbelievingly.  “Because it didn’t really help me and Marnie out when the cameras started rolling.”

    “It might have helped if you didn’t spring wood every time female hormones entered a room.  You’re a dog, man.”  Jake laughed.

    Billy smirked knowing that his friend was totally accurate in his assessment.  “Whatever shithead.  All I’m saying is ‘little Jakie” there isn’t really going to know the difference between a dude and a chick when you’re pounding them through a wall or floor, or any surface when it comes to that show.”

    “I think ‘little Jakie’, and really he’s not all that little, asshole, will be fine.”  Jake smirked as he finished his beer.

    Billy kept his gaze locked on his friend as he too finished off his drink. 

    Jake huffed out a sigh.  “I’m not gay, Billy.  I just play one on TV.”  He laughed at the serious expression still on his friends face.

    Billy exhaled a deep breath and leaned forward and fixed Jake with an intense look.  “I’m just saying that in our industry the sexuality line is fluid.  The intimate scenes we’re asked to do with both guys and girls, the long hours, the exhaustion, it kind of breeds sexual tension.  In our business I think it’s the exception if someone hasn’t crossed over to the other team once in a while.”

    Jake just stared at his friend in shock.  Billy really thought that he and Van . . . he couldn’t even finish the thought.

    “Dude.”  Jake laughed nervously.  “Maybe you’re still dealing with your whole big Brokeback Mountain man crush on Gyllenhaal, but don’t project.”

    “Don’t hate on  _my_ Jake.”  Billy smiled at the long running joke.  “Really, it’s not that big of a stretch.  You guys are so close.  It’s a thin line between friendship and you know, something more.”

    “Billy, Van and I, just friends.  Best friends.  We’ve kissed like a hundred times and nothing.  He’s got a boyfriend, a long-term one I might add and I’m. Not. Gay.”

    “Yeah, you’ve kissed a whole bunch but you’ve never had to film horizontal with the guy.”  Billy got up to head to the bathroom.  “Just saying I think you could ‘go gay’ for the Vanman and you know what?”

    Jake shrugged his shoulders as he watched Billy pause in the bathroom doorway.  “What?”

    Billy was quiet for a long moment and then slowly smiled.  “I don’t think it would be the worst thing that could happen if you did.”

    Jake’s mouth fell open at that and just sat dumbstruck.

    “Just saying.”  Billy laughed before turning and heading into the bathroom leaving a confused temporary roommate behind.

* * *

    To say that it felt like he and Van had never stopped acting together because it was so easy and effortless would be a cliche except that it was true.  Jake smiled as he sat in his chair watching Van film his scene.  He really wasn’t needed, his scenes were already done for the day but his mind and curiosity just wouldn’t let him leave.

    Van had already laughed and told the director on their first episode that that’s how Jake was.  Always watching, listening, learning.

    What he saw now was why Van Hansis had been nominated for Daytime Emmys three years in a row and it wouldn’t surprise him if a Prime Time Emmy nomination came knocking if what he was watching now was any indication.

    Their new roles were light years away from Luke and Noah.  Jake’s vampire Guillaume was a puzzle that he absolutely loved trying to figure out.  A vampire trying and not always succeeding to stay on the relative right side of existence but still with a dark side that was always lurking just below the surface.

    Van’s Baptiste, the French street prostitute /want-to-be vampire/lover of Guillaume was as different from As The World Turn’s Luke Snyder as Haken had been from Noah, and damn if Van wasn’t pulling it off.

    Van had the conniving, do anything up to and including murder for his vampire lover down.  Damain Grimaldi had nothing on Baptiste.  Van was great and he was loving the part and it showed.  Although, Jake was willing to admit he might be little biased.

    Their first day on the set had been filled with apprehension for everyone but them.  They were shooting out of sequence and they just happen to be filming the continuation of the scene they had auditioned with. 

    They had sensed the tension as everyone waited to see how the newcomers would handle it.  They didn’t have to wait long for the familiar chemistry to appear.

 

 

  


               _“I’m sure someone else would turn me in a moment.  Of course, he’d want my . . . gratitude.”_ Van/Baptiste laughed seductively as he ran his hands down Jake/Guillaume’s arms.   
         
                His hands were suddenly and painfully yanked above his head and pinned against the wall by Guillaume’s as he pressed himself even further into Baptiste’s body, pressed together from chest to knees. 

                Slowly he dropped his lips to Baptiste’s neck, laying open-mouth kisses up and down the muscles.  Finally, resting his lips against the pulse point there.  The heart beat strong and steady.  Beating out a rhythm that was hypnotic, pulling him in, the desire to bleed almost overpowering.

                Baptiste knew this Guillaume.  The one that lived behind the good intentions.  That tried to exist honorably.  This was the vampire that he’d met over 300 years ago and had followed throughout time over and over again.  The vampire who he had killed for, who had killed for him.  This Guillaume was the heated, wonton being that he wanted, needed to be one with.  
                             
                _“No one bleeds you but me.”_ Guillaume whispered in a desperate voice, taking a deep breath trying to steady himself.  Trying to contain the evil that he desperately tried to keep in check. 

                 _“No one, huh?”_  Baptiste whispered back as he slowly rocked his hips up into his lover.

 

               Guillaume pulled his head back to look into Baptiste’s eyes.  He saw the challenge there.  He knew that Baptiste would search for someone else if he decided he had had enough of waiting.  A possessive fury seized him.  He squeezed Baptiste’s wrist enough so that a grunt of pain escaped the man’s lips.

                _“No one.”_ Guillaume voice lowered an octave to a dangerous tone.  _“You’re mine.”_

                 _“Than take me!”_ Baptiste snapped, turning his head to expose his neck.  Inviting the bite that would effectively end his life and start his existence as an undead.

                Jealousy erupted in Guillaume.  Desire surging through him so quickly that he was instantly and blindingly hard.  He roughly shoved his leg between those of the man he held in place and roughly ground his knee into Baptiste’s own rock hard erection. 

                The deep moan of pleasure that escaped Baptiste was the sound that Guillaume heard as he lunged at the exposed neck, latching his lips onto the pulse point that he could now hear beating wildly.

                His teeth pierced the thin skin of his lover’s neck, the warm rush of the blood slowly flowing over his tongue.  The coppery tang awakening the blood lust that always lurked just blow his consciousness.

 

               Involuntarily, he drew in another, deeper taste.  Taking in more of the pulsing warmth that his body was now craving.  The desire for the blood, warm, thick, and sticky was drawing Guillaume into the haze of compulsion.  The need for more, for all the life sustaining liquid that he could take.

                Each mouthful he drew seemed to fill him with a strong, obsessive desire for more.  The only thought was to take as much as he could.  His only need.  His only desire.  He needed all of it, every last drop and it was his for the taking in the body beneath him.

                The need, need, need of more beating as strongly as the heartbeat pulsing in the blood that he was consuming.  The fog of addiction almost complete in Guillaume’s mind, broken quickly by the soft, almost imperceptible hitching of a breath.  The gentle but insistent pressure of hands suddenly around his biceps.  Hands that were gently shaking . . . in fear.

                The compulsion receding as awareness came of the silently struggling body against him.  The breathy, _“stop . . .please, stop”_  barely heard from the nearly numb lips of . . . his lover.

                Guillaume stumbled back so violently and quickly that the pumping wound spurted a slow stream of blood as Baptiste bonelessly slid down the wall.  Hooded eyes gazing fearfully at Guillaume’s hunched form.

 

 

  
    “CUT!”  Tony’s shrill voice broke the spell that held not only the two actors but everyone else on set.  Sudden applause erupted before the director was ordering everyone to hurry to set-up for the next scene.

    Jake knelt before Van’s slumped form against the faux wall of the set.  Both of them heaving in hard breaths trying to recover from the scene that had just ended.

    Van watched, with glazed eyes, as Jake slowly raised his head and rotated his shoulders tying to get out of the mind set of Guillaume and rid himself of the tension that was still in the air.  The same tension that Van himself was still acutely aware of as he tried to slow his breathing and his racing heart.

    Jake’s head turned toward him and Van was met with blazing blue eyes.  He smiled smugly at his friend seeing that he was having just as much trouble shaking off the scene.

    Jake scouted over closer to Van.  “Hey.”  He breathed.

    “Hey yourself.”  Van answered quietly as he stretched his legs out in front of him, one on each side of Jake.  He watched as the stage blood that would look awesome on film, but was now congealing on Jake’s chin, glistened in the lighting.  He chuckled as he reached out with his index finger, swirling it though the mess and held it up in the space between them.  “Guillaume missed some of this dinner, Dude.”

    Van’s laugh was cut short as he watched the twinkle that was in Jake’s eyes suddenly turn dark.  He watched, almost as if paralyzed, as Jake reached out and wrapped his hand firmly around his wrist drawing it closer.

    Wet heat surrounded his index finger.  Van was in a world of confusion as the sensation of tongue, Jake’s tongue, wrapped around the appendage.  Van’s eyes drawn to lips now wrapped around the finger, his finger.  The sensation of gentle suction pulling it deeper in.

    A small moan, almost imperceptible, escaped the man in front of him drawing Jake’s eyes up.  What he saw was Van sitting against the wall, staring back at him.  His mouth in the soft shape of an ‘o’.  Eyes wide in stunned fascination.  He started as he realized what he had done.  What the hell was he doing? 

    He slowly pulled at Van’s wrist until the finger gently slipped from his lips.  Blue crashing into hazel locked in a heated stare.

    An awkward throat clearing made them jerk around and realize that a slightly flushed director was standing not two feet away. 

    “Yeah, while I like the method acting you two got going on here, we’re almost ready for the next scene.”  Tony smiled down at them.

    Both actors quickly scrambled up from the floor.  Van nearly tripping in his haste and Jake trying to hid the flush now racing up into his face. 

    Tony considered them for a second and leaned in lowering his voice.  “You know, Alan doesn’t really mind if co-stars are dating, just keep it off set.”

    Van stilled the hand that was wiping dust off of his pants.  “What?”

    “We’re not . . .”  Jake said, shaking his head.

    Tony held up his hand.  “It’s our own version of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’”

    Jake blinked.

    Van was sure that everyone should be hearing the virtual ‘crickets chirping’ that he heard  in the silence that hung between them and the slyly smiling, almost eager looking director.

    “We’re not dating.”  Van said with a flat stare.

    “Oh . . . okay.”  Tony said, barely masking the disappointment in his voice.  “Well we’re moving over to Set 3.”

    He turned and walked away, peeking over his shoulder a few seconds later to see the two men unmoving with stunned looks on their faces.

    “Not dating, my ass.”   He whispered to himself just before he started yelling at the passing PA to get ready for the next scene.

 

* * *

    “To the newest hot thing on HBO.  Well as hot as a blood sucking vampire and French whore can be.”  Billy grinned before downing his shot.  Jake smirked and Van rolled his eyes before they both threw back their own drinks.

    Billy blow out a breath trying to ease the burn of the alcohol as he slammed the glass down on the wooden bar in front of them. 

    It was Friday night and he had hounded and begged until both Jake and Van had agreed to come out and finally celebrate their new job.

    Van tried to shake off the effects of the shot as he leaned back from the bar.  Jake seemed to be the only one not phased as he stood watching his two friends.  “Light weights.”

    “Whatever.”  Van said, smirking at his slightly rumpled looking friend.  It had been a while since he had been out drinking.  He tried to remember how long and was shocked to realize it had been almost six months and he had still been in New York.

    “I think I’m going to head out.”  He said as he stood up from the bar stool.

    “No, stay.”  Jake said quickly.  He had unconsciously reached out and gripped Van’s elbow. 

    “Vanman.”  Billy stated as he turned quickly to his suddenly departing friend.  “It’s early.  We just started.   Come on.”

    Jake watched in silence as Van dropped his face trying to hide the frown that now was there.  He had been surprised when Billy said that Van had actually agreed to meet them for drinks.  It hadn’t escaped him how Van had changed.

    Maybe the change wasn’t enough for everyone else to notice but it was enough for Jake to.  He had noticed it as soon as he’d gotten to LA.  Van’s smiles weren’t as quick and open.  There was now a hesitancy that never had been there before.  He didn’t share as much.  Van was notoriously closed mouth to fans and the press about his personal life, but not usually with his friends.

    Jake also noticed the tension that now ran through Van’s body as soon as he had touched his arm.  He mentally kicked himself for the thousandth time for the clusterfuck that was the whole finger sucking incident.  Jake tried to contain the groan that that thought elicited.  He still was at a loss as to why it had happened.  What obscene urge had overtaken his good sense and compelled him to basically molest his co-star and best friend’s finger.

    He self-consciously pulled his hand away from his friend’s arm, wondering if the newfound tension was now a permanent fixture between them.

    For Van’s part his thoughts were a jumbled mess too.  When Jake’s hand had landed on his arm he had froze.  The hand that had been around his shoulders a thousand times now seemed to burn a brand into his skin.  He watched as a momentary flash of hurt and guilt raced across Jake’s face.

    “Please stay.”  Jake said, his voice surprisingly rough.  The plea reflected in his eyes as he stared at Van.  Their gaze caught, neither able to pull away. 

    “Sure.”  Van finally whispered.

    Billy smirked as he watched his friends.  Watched as feelings raced across each of their faces.  Feelings he was sure weren’t recognized by either.  He wondered again how they didn’t see what everyone else around them always had.  The feelings that were much stronger than those of friendship, even their uncanny friendship.  ‘Wasn’t denial a wonderful thing.’  He snorted into his beer.

    He watched as a clearly agitated Jake hastily excused himself, practically running to the safety of the men’s room.  An equally shaken Van dropped back onto his seat.

    Billy had thought long and hard before he had said anything to Jake that day two months ago.  He had wondered if maybe he had been wrong, somehow mistaken about what he saw, what he thought he knew.  He had his suspicions confirmed though as Jake tried to explain why he and Van couldn’t happen.

    “I’m straight.”  “Van’s got a boyfriend.  A long-term one.”  Everything except the easiest reason why he and Van shouldn’t or couldn’t be together.  Never, “I don’t love Van.”  Not surprisingly, that statement had been missing from Jake’s argument.

    Billy sat and grinned as Van glanced over at him giving him a half-grin of his own.  “Guess I’m staying.”

    “Good.”  Billy said as he reached over and patted Van’s shoulder, turning away so Van couldn’t see the slightly manacle glint in his eyes.  He almost felt sorry for what he was about to put Van through, but hey, ‘all’s fair’ as they say.

    He reached over to pick up his beer and then casually lobbed out his verbal bomb.  “Oh, you’ll never guess who I spoke to the other day.”

    Van arched his eyebrow questioningly and sat waiting.  When Billy wasn’t immediately forthcoming Van reached back and slapped his friend in the back of the head.  “Well, who dumb ass?”

    Billy ducked away from the slap and laughed.  “Tala.”

    A brilliant smile spread across Van’s face at the mention of their friend.  “How is she?  God, I haven’t talked to her in ages.”

    Billy grinned because he certainly knew how true that was.  “She’s doing good.  She’s got a role in an off-Broadway show in New York.  She’s happy to be back there.”

    Van continued smiling.  He was glad that she had landed something.  It had been tough for a lot of them from As The World Turns to find work after the cancellation.  Van knew how incredibly fortunate he and Jake were to have landed the job that they had.  He was so preoccupied that he really wasn’t prepared for Billy’s next statement.

    Billy affected a surprised look as he delivered his next sentence.  “Oh, you’ll never guess who she ran into outside that deli all of us use to go to.”

    He watched Van’s profile out of the corner of his eye.  Watched as the smile froze and then slowly slide off his face, jaw clinching.

    Billy turned his head slightly, the movement drawing Van’s attention.  “Kind of weird, Hansis, that you failed to mention that you and Tyler had broken up and he was back in New York, especially since you tried to tell me tonight that you and he were staying in.”

    Van quickly turned forward.  He hadn’t consciously planned on lying to his friends, even his family about the breakup.  But a lie of omission sometimes happens when trying to avoid the inevitable ‘whys’.

    He had had the opportunities.  Jake had told him almost as soon as he arrived in LA and they had started rehearsals that he and Stephanie were a done deal.  If Jake had wondered why Van had never asked his own ‘whys’ he didn’t let it show.

    Billy huffed out a breath next to Van in frustration.  “You’re honestly going to sit there and not say anything?”

    “We broke up.  He’s back in New York.”  Van said with a sarcastic smile.  “Happy now?”

    “No, I’m not happy.  You know, I can understand why you might not have told me but you obviously haven’t even told Jake.  I thought you guys were best friends.”  Billy said still watching his friend who now wouldn’t meet his eyes.

    “Just drop it, Billy.”  Van grated out.

    “I mean you two were together a long time.  He was happy about you getting this role, right?”  Billy asked.  He knew the answer.  Tala had explained in vivid Tala Ashe style about literally running into Tyler outside the deli the previous week.  How she had stammered out a greeting and proceeded to go on about how happy she was that Van had landed such a choice role and wasn’t it amazing how Jake had gotten the other lead.  She had been surprised when Tyler had cut her off and said that he wouldn’t know how Van was faring with the new role because they had broken up a few months earlier and he’d come back to the City and Broadway.

    It had tuned into a short and very awkward conversation after that and Tala had gotten the distinct impression that Jake was a very touchy subject.  Billy had actually been a little shocked when nice, sweet, diminutive Tala had blurted, ‘can those two finally get their heads out of their asses and get together.’  Just another example to Billy that he had been right all along about his opinion of his friend’s need to be together and it solidified Billy’s career decision of becoming Van and Jake’s official matchmaker.  They’d get together even if it killed . . . him.

    Van hadn’t answered his question, so he repeated.  “He was happy about your role?”

    “Yeah, sure he was happy.  Why wouldn’t he be.”  Van said shrugging his shoulders.  God, he wished Billy would drop this.  Did the guy know that it was really bad form to force discussions about ex’s.  Obviously not.

    “Why wouldn’t he be?”  Billy seemed to consider that question for a moment and then snapped his fingers.  “Oh, yeah maybe he wasn’t so happy when he found out the who that got cast along with you.  Yeah, that Silbermann dude.”

    Van’s knuckles were white as they gripped the beer bottle in front of him.  Fear, anger, irritation warring inside.  “I said, drop it Magnuseen.” 

    “Why?  A little too close to the truth.”  Billy asked as he turned to face Van.

    Van dropped his head between his shoulders, a sigh escaping his lips answering his friend without looking up.  “He was jealous, okay.  I don’t know why, he has absolutely no reason to be.”

    “Maybe because he sees what everyone else has always seen around you guys.  Love.”  Billy murmured quietly.

    Van slowly looked up at his now dorkily smiling friend, sitting looking at him with his elbow on the bartop and his chin in his hand.  ‘Fucking girl.’

    “We’re friends, Billy.”  He said in a terse whisper. 

    “Yes, you are.”  Billy nodded.

    “He’s straight.”  Van pointed out as he turned to face his still smiling friend.

    “He might be.”  Billy continued smiling.

    “Wait.  What?”  That small statement brought him up short.  ‘Might be?’  As Van sat there thinking about those two little words he realized that neither he or Jake had ever even discussed sexuality.  It seemed like it would have been nearly impossible to do that what with the storyline they were portraying at the time but he had never asked and Jake had never told.  Van had just always assumed because of the line of girls Jake had dated back in New York.  “We’re just friends.”  Van tried again.

    “You could be more.”  Billy sighed as he stared dreamily back at him.

    “Are you high?”  Van asked.  He hadn’t seen his friend light up or anything but this girly, love struck person in front of him was seriously about to make him sick.

    Billy snapped out of his cupid like euphoria at the question.  “What?  No, asshole I’m not but nice try at a diversion though.”

    Van flushed.  “We’re just friends.”

    Billy sighed, irritated at the way his friends just weren’t cooperating with his giant match making abilities. “Be honest with yourself, Van, you’ve never considered Jake as anything more than a friend?  Never let your mind go there?  Never even thought about the possibilities?”

    Van hadn’t.  Well, he hadn’t until Tyler’s little confession.  Hadn’t until maybe the whole finger sucking thing.  Hadn’t ever because . . . there was always someone else and Van wasn’t that kind of guy.  Was that it?  Had he never considered it only because Tyler had always been there.  Never considered it because Jake had always had a girlfriend for the five years they’d known each other.  Was that the only reason, fidelity.  Because yeah, it was on his mind now, a lot.

    Van dropped his head down on the bartop.  His life sucked! 

 

* * *

    The splash of icy water didn’t really have the desired effect Jake decided as he watched in the bathroom mirror as the water run down his face and off his chin.  Yeah, he’d run to the bathroom like a 13-year-old girl at her first school dance, but really what else could he do.

    “Damn Billy Magnuseen.”  Jake muttered as he leaned on the sink and hung his head.  Ever since that conversation, thoughts about Van in that way kept creeping into his head.  Thoughts about his friend, his best friend and then the whole incident after their scene.  ‘What the  
hell, Jake.’

    Sure the scene had been intense, it was meant to be.  Pressed up against Van, grinding his knee into Van’s groin and it being answered by the roll of Van’s hips into him.  He hadn’t expected it to get to him so bad.  This was Van for Christ sakes. 

    At the end when he looked over, heart still racing, breathe still coming in short bursts there had been Van .  Equally flushed, hair in styled disarray, holding that damn finger in front of him and wearing that wicked smirk on his lips.  God help him, he had obviously gone temporarily insane.

    When he’d realized what he was doing he had expected a smart ass remark or at worst some irritation at the fact that Van’s friend was sucking his finger like a lollipop.  What he didn’t expect was the look of confusion on Van’s face that quickly morph into a heated one, mouth open and want plan to see.  And yeah, wasn’t that image now seared into his memory and haunting his dreams, thank you very much.

    Jake groaned as he pulled away from the mirror. and walked over to lean against the wall.  So he’s perving on his best friend, who has a boyfriend and oh yeah, he knows said boyfriend and actually kind of likes the guy.  Jake thinks it’s pretty much a given that practically giving your friend’s finger a blow job goes way past the bounds of friendship.

    He banged his head back against the wall.  Images of Van’s lips, Van’s eyes, Van’s mouth coming unasked for into his brain.  He reached down and pressed the heal of his hand into his rapidly hardening cock.  “Oh, God.”  He gasped out.

    The need for a quick jerk off session was in order and soon if he was going to go back out to his friends.  As he stepped into the nearest stall and closed the door behind him Jake flicked open the button on his paints, pulled down the zipper and roughly shoved his hand down the front, gripping his cock and squeezing his eyes closed.  He almost whimpered when the images that greeted him were those of a certain blonde man’s eyes, lips and mouth.  The flashes of hazel eyes wide with need, soft lips and full mouth making his hand slip faster and harder.

    Jake came with a soft moan that might have held the hint of a name in it.  He stood panting, eyes closed, with his other hand braced against the back wall of the stall.  “I’m so screwed.”  He murmured.  


 

* * *

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

  It was surprising how something could be so different yet still feel the same.  Getting out of the limo onto the Red Carpet at the Golden Globes was strikingly similar to arriving at the Daytime Emmys.  It was the same experience but on steroids.  Everything was more and bigger. The paparazzi was there with their cameras flashing, just more.  There were fans there screaming their name, only more and definitely louder.  
     
   Van now had an idea of what it was like for Jake when he had first started on As The World Turns when he was going to events, experiencing the media buzz before even appearing on screen because he was now experiencing the same thing and Jake was going through it all again.  
  
    They had actually aired two episodes with them on True Blood but the media frenzy had started weeks before they had even made it to set.  The internet had exploded and both Van and Jake’s Facebook fan pages had crashed the morning the casting news broke.   
  
    The production company had been bombarded immediately with interview requests and statements both for and against the pairing.  At first they had worried that Mr. Ball would be put off by the media controversy.  Granted, they had only their experience with As The World Turns, Proctor & Gamble and Goutman to compare it to.  They were pleasantly surprised when Leslie had assured them that Mr. Ball, in fact, loved the buzz.  True Blood and Mr. Ball were popular enough with fans and HBO to enable him to effectively tell the conservative groups to piss off.  
  
    As she stated, “in Hollywood any publicity is good publicity.”  
  
    Now they stood posing in the strobe light like flashes of the cameras.  The tension of the last few weeks, almost gone.  Jake had been trying to deal with his little ‘crisis’ on his own.  Working harder at both their performance on True Blood and his performance in front of Van.  Trying to keep up the ‘best friend but surely nothing more’ facade.  For his part, Van had decided that denial was the best and easiest way to deal with the ideas that Billy, the shithead, had started.  
  
    This though, was easy.  Standing for the pictures, both Van and Jake easily slipping back into place by each other’s sides, arms entwined around one another.  They stood alongside Anna and Stephen as the two hottest pairings, both old and new, from True Blood.  
  
    “You two don’t even look phased.”  Anna said as she smiled and posed with her arm around her husband and co-star.  Van and Jake leaned in a little closer as another round of flashes went off.  
  
    “We’ve kind of been through this before.”  Jake smiled glancing down at Van.  “Just maybe not to this extent.”  
  
    “You think?”  Van laughed as he turned slightly in the direction of this new co-stars.  “We’re use to posing together.”  
  
    “Well, I hope you’re use to answering awkward questions, because it’s time for the press line.”  Stephen said with a deep sigh.  He and Anna knew only too well how questions about the roles that lead to their relationship and ultimately their marriage could go from innocent to over the line in a matter of seconds.  
  
    Jake tried to hold the easy smile that was on his face.  Tried to ignore the sudden unease that fluttered in his stomach.   “Yeah, I think we’re a little familiar with those types of questions.”  Van and Jake almost simultaneously took a deep breath and then plunged forward.  
  
    Anna watched as they reached the first reporter and noticed how the two gravitated toward one another, slightly leaning into the other.  Jake casually draping his lanky arm around Van’s shoulder to be unconsciously answered by Van’s arm immediately encircling his co-star’s waist.  She wondered if they were even aware of their own familiarity.  She watched as Jake threw his head back laughing about something that was said and how Van gazed up at him with a giant smile.  
  
    “I think with those two around we might actually get a reprieve from the press this season.”  Stephen whispered as he wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist and leaning his chin on her shoulder next to her ear.  
  
    “Why?”  She asked with a small smile.  Obviously, she wasn’t the only one watching their new co-stars.  
  
    Stephen pressed a small kiss to his wife’s neck, setting off a fresh flurry of flashes.  “They seem to be just a little too comfortable with all this.  They seem to always know where the other is and they are so intoned with each other.”  
  
    “Sounds a little familiar to you?”  Anna said leaning back into her husbands solid chest, memories of their first months together floating through her mind.  
  
    “It does look a lot like how we were at the beginning baby.”  He smiled.  “Even if neither of them want to admit it even to themselves.”  
  
    Anna grabbed Stephen’s hand and headed to their first press stop.  “It should be interesting watching it develop.”  
  


  
    “So, Van, Jake, does it feel any different?”  Is the chemistry still there?”  The reporter from the LA Times asked the question for what must have been the twelfth time since they had started the interviews almost 35 minutes ago.  They honestly tried to remember the names that the PA had mentioned, but after the fifth stop even their highly touted good natures were reaching critical mass.  
  
    “It’s like we never stopped working together.”  Jake smiled sweetly at the young woman.  
  
    “How about you, Van?”  The female reporter turned to Van quickly, catching him a little off guard.   “Any problems?  Any . . . difficulties after being cast alongside Jake again?”  
  
    ‘Yeah, subtle.’  Van thought.  Almost each and every reporter had asked similarly leading questions.  Seemingly benign in the asking, except that Van and the reporters both knew the game they were playing.   
  
    Van glanced at his friend standing next to him and saw the slightly puzzled frown on his handsome face.  The undercurrent of tension at this question and the cat and mouse game was obviously starting to peek Jake’s attention.  
  
    Van turned back to the reporter and smiled.  “Not any problems at all.  Like Jake said, it was like we had never stopped working together.  Everything flows and is seamless.”  
  
    “But this material, although still a gay storyline, is much more raw, certainly more graphic than daytime television.  Do you feel any pressure?”  The slightly frowning young woman pressed.  
  
    “No.”  Jake interjected.  He looked down immediately at Van in almost an apologetic manner when he realized that he might have inadvertently run over a response by his friend.  Van smiled indulgently and did a rolling motion with his hand to indicate that he should continue.  
  
    Smiling widely, Jake looked back at the reporter.  “Although, the material is and will be more intense and graphic than either of us have ever done, I think at least for myself, it’s going to be easier knowing I’m doing it with one of my best friends and that whatever the scene calls for he’ll never embarrass me or let me face anything alone.  We’re together in this storyline.  That’s a gift not all actors get.  I’ve been fortunate to have it happen twice.”  
  
    Again Van found himself caught off guard, only this time by Jake’s response.  A huge lump forming in his throat at the words that Jake had just put out there for the world to hear.  The reporter’s eyes lite up.  
  
    “Wow, high praise Van.”  She smiled sweetly, with almost a devilish gleam in her eyes.  
  
    Van pulled out one of his envied smiles and directed it squarely on the reporter.  “He’s one of my best friends for a reason.”  
  
    Before the reporter could follow-up the PA stepped in to put an end to the interviews reminding both Van and Jake as well as the reporter that they needed to get inside for the awards show.  
  
    They breathed a deep sigh of relief with the press portion of the evening behind them.  Van turned to follow the PA toward the entrance to the building when he was stopped by Jake’s hand on his shoulder.  
  
    As he turned he saw that Jake had stopped and was grinning in the direction of a section of fans.  A smile suddenly appeared on Van’s face when he saw a handmade sign being held by a group of smiling, but otherwise, restrained fans.  
  
    Jake turned his head, jerking it in the direction of the fans.  As they approached both were chuckling at the sign in front of them.  On it “Nuke” had ben “X” over and then “. . .?  B&G.”  Underneath it read, “We’re Bee Gees!”  
  
    “Wow.”  Jake said with a smile as he and Van came to a stop in front of the two women and two men holding the sign.  Jake looked at the one woman struck with a sense that he had seen her before.  
  
    “Jake, Sue Collins.”  The woman said quickly as she stuck her hand out to shake his.  
  
    Recognition hit as he instinctively grasped the outstretched hand.  “You came to see me in Dracula.  A matinee, right?”  
  
    The woman’s hand stilled and a blush bloomed on her cheeks as her friends all started chuckling at her embarrassment.    
  
    “She was sure you wouldn’t remember her.”  One of the men said as he smiled fondly at his friend and then back at the guys in front of him.  “I’m Tom and this is Mike and the woman next to Sue is Cindy.  We’re huge fans of you both.”  
  
    “Thank you.”  Van said with a warm smile at the group.  “Bee Gees?   
  
    Mike softly laughed.  “Well, to be honest the fandom has had a hard time coming up with a combination like “Nuke” for your new characters.”  
  
    “But Bee Gees, really?  I think the band might have an issue with that.”  Van smirked.  
  
    “Well, if the show hadn’t given your characters such hard to combine names we wouldn’t have to resort to just calling you ‘B&G’ and us as your loyal followers ‘Bee Gees’.  So really it’s all the writers of True Blood’s fault.”  Cindy laughed quite satisfied with her argument.  
  
    “We’ll have to let Mr. Ball know that he’s causing our fandom problems.”  Jake laughed.  
  
    “We’re thrilled so many of our Luke and Noah fans seem to be enjoying our new roles.”  Van said as he watched  a man came up behind the group.  He was slightly taken aback as the new arrival suddenly pushed forward, shoving a hand holding a recorder in his face.  
  
    “So, Mr. Hansis, now that you’re single and the ex has headed back East, will you now be on the market or are you already taken?”  The stranger asked in a sly tone.  
  
    Van froze at the question that he had feared all night.  He certainly didn’t want to discuss his private life, here, in front of his fans.  
  
    In fact, everyone seemed in a state of shock.  Jake had a confused expression on his face as he realized that the guy must be talking about Tyler and that he and Van had apparently broken up and Van hadn’t mentioned it to him.  
  
    An evil smile spread across the man’s face as he took in the stunned expressions on both actor’s faces.  He was about to launch a follow-up question but was derailed as he found himself being shouldered out of the way by the two men he had shoved past.  
  
    Tom casually laid his arm across Mike’s shoulder and leaned into his side, basically squeezing the man back and away from Van.  
  
    “Hey.”  The man yelled at finding himself blocked from reaching his prey.  He started to go around to the other side of the small group when the two women also closed ranks and barred his way forward.  He turned in frustration to try and go around the men again when he tripped over a well placed, back stretched foot.  
  
    An undignified squeak was the only warning as the man vanished from sight behind the group.  
  
    “Oops, my bad.”  Cindy snickered at her friends.  
  
    The infuriated man clamored awkwardly back to his feet, glaring at the woman.  
  
    “That’s assault.  I’m going to sue you.”  He screamed as he realized that his hands were bloody from his fall onto the concrete.   
  
    “I’m Canadian you moron.  Extradition should be fun.”  Cindy turned away.  
  
    Van and Jake were tapped on the shoulder by their PA letting them know it was time to go.  
  
    Van instantly reached out and gave each of their four fans a quick hug.  He mouthed ‘thank you’ before he and Jake turned away and entered the theater.  
  
    They walked toward their table and Van realized that Jake had been uncharacteristically quiet since the encounter with the reporter.  Van could see out of the corner of his eye that his friend was staring down at the ground with a thoughtful expression.  They quickly took their seats at the table with their new co-stars.  
  
    “So.”  Jake’s voice was soft as he turned to Van.  It had been almost ten minutes and Van knew what the question was going to be.  “We’re not going to talk about it?”  
  
    The question hung between them.  Van focusing on anything but looking at Jake at the moment, his hand straying to the stem of the water glass on the table, twirling it slowly.  
  
    Jake waited.  He saw the nervous hand reaching for the glass.  Watched as Van studied the pattern on the table cloth.  “Did you two break-up because he didn’t like that you go this role . . . or because he didn’t like that I got this role?”  
  
    Van’s gaze was locked on the glass of water.  He tried to swallow the lump of fear that suddenly appeared and was trying to chock him.  
  
    “Van?”  Jake whispered insistently as he sat, a flutter of something in his chest making him catch his breath.  
  
    Van glanced up nervously at Jake, barely meeting his gaze.  His blue eyes boring into his own.   
  
    “I would assume Tyler and I broke up for the same reasons you and Stephanie broke up.”  Van hedged as he pulled his gaze away from his friend.  
  
    Jake sat frozen and confused as Van’s response washed over him.  He hadn’t really gone beyond saying that he and Stephanie had broken up.  Hadn’t gone into the whys and hows.  
  
    If he were honest, they had been on the way to ending for a long time.  Him getting the True Blood part had only been the final nail in that coffin.

 

     
 _“You’re being stupid.”  Jake breathed out, knowing immediately that that hadn’t been the smartest thing to say.  He rubbed at his throbbing forehead.  Two hours of fighting or rather listening to your soon-to-be ex-girlfriend rant would do that to you.  
_

_“Stupid!  STUPID am I!”  Stephanie stopped dead in the middle of the living room, dropping the suitcase she had been carrying with a thud to the floor.  
_

_“Yeah Stephanie, stupid.  If you want to break-up, fine, whatever.  But don’t blame this on . . . “ he couldn’t even finish the thought.  
_

_“Van?”  She finished it for him.  A look of disbelief written on her face.  
_

_She slowly closed her eyes, breathing deeply trying to gain some composure.  “You know it was hard, Jake.”  She said finally as she opened her eyes looking across the room that had been ‘theirs’ only that morning.  
_

_“What was?”  Jake said with a sigh.  
_

_“Being with you during the whole Luke and Noah thing.  Always having to stay out of sight.  Never walking with you down the red carpets, the premiers, anything.”  
_

_“You know that was the PR Departments doing.”  Jake started but was cut off by her sad smile.  
_

_“Most of it was, but honestly you two didn’t seem to mind much.”  
_

_“It was part of the job, Steph.”  Jake said with some heat.  
_

_“Yeah.  I thought we were done with it.  Done with the appearances, the events, the fans, the innuendo.”  She sighed heavily.  
_

_“It’s just gossip.  No one really believes it.”  He snapped.  
_

_“My parents do.”  Stephanie snapped back.  “You leave As The World Turns and the next big acting role you get just happens to be with him.”  She stood looking at him._

    _“So I’m suppose to turn down a role on a show I’ve always wanted to be on because Van’s on it?”  He asked with a ‘duh’ look on his face.  
_

_She breathed out, hanging her head. “I don’t know, Jake.  But I can’t do this again.  I can’t be the person all your obsessed fans hate because they think I’m keeping you two apart.”  She looked up to gaze questioningly at him.  “Because I’m not, right?”  
_

_His eyes snapped back to his now ex-girlfriend’s face.  He had expected almost anything to come out of her mouth when the break-up finally happened.  Anything, that is, but this.  
_

_“Are you serious?”  He asked, astonished.  
_

_She quickly nodded to herself.  “Yeah, I guess I am.”  
_

_“No, you weren’t standing in the way of me and Van.  God, I can’t believe I just had to say that.”  He angrily ran his hands through his hair.  “Look, if you want to break-up, fine, but don’t make this into something it’s not.”  
_

_Her eyes turned hard and angry.  “Fine, Jake, but you really aught to take a long, hard look at why you’re not bothered about the fact that Van’s back in your life this way.”  
_

_“I don’t have to, he’s my friend.”  He snapped.  
_

_“Uh-huh.”  She huffed as she leaned over and grabbed the bag off the floor and started for the apartment door.  She quickly walked past him and stopped when her hand touched the door knob.  She didn’t turn around as she spoke.  
_

_“I was always on the outside looking in when it came to you and Van.  I knew how you looked and touched me, Jake, and I see how you look at and touch Van.  There’s a difference, Jake.”  
_

_She was silent and still for a second and Jake wasn’t sure but he thought he saw her take a shaking breath in.  
_

_“The looks that you two share and the touches, I envied him for getting those because I wasn’t.  Haven’t.  Think about that, Jake.”  
_

_She quickly pulled the door open and disappeared through it, leaving confusion behind._   
  


  
    Jake jerked back as he realized he had been lost in his thoughts as Van sat next to him trying to avoid eye contact.  
  
    He was confused.  Stephanie had been jealous.  Obviously, always had been of Van.  Was Jake really supposed to believe that Van and his boyfriend of ten years had broken up because of . . . him.  
  
    His eyes wondered back to find hazel eyes locked on his own.  At once, although he was sure he should probably feel awkward, should be honorable and feel sorry that his friend’s relationship had ended, he honestly could only feel a small tug of happiness deep in his soul.   He smiled a lopsided grin.  “Guess they’re both reading too much slash fanfic.”  
  
    Van’s eyes bulged as he nearly chocked on the water he had been sipping.  He quickly cleared his throat and watched as Jake smiled again and quietly place his long arm along the back of Van’s chair.  
  
    And there it was.  The ease of just being them.  He had worried that Jake would feel uncomfortable when he realized he had been a big part of the reasons for his and Tyler’s split.  But here he was letting Van know, in his subtle oh so Jake way, that he was fine.  They were fine.  
  
    Van leaned back and relaxed.  The soft, soothing presence of Jake’s thumb rubbing absently at the base of his neck a constant reminder of just how fine they were.  
  


* * *

  
  
    Jake gripped the hips in front of him and thrust his own hips forward.  He knew the motions and the rhythms but the distinctively male ass that his crotch was coming into contact with was definitely new.  He gripped harder knowing that the hold would probably leave marks and he hoped that  _he_  would understand.  
  
    He looked down at the head bowed down, bouncing back and forth with each thrust.  He had thought that he’d be able to handle this, but who was he kidding.  His heart froze as the head turned towards him and Van’s eyes meet his own causing his thrusts to stutter to a stop.  
  
    “CUT!”  A voice called from the PA system.  “Guys, could you step over here?”  
  
    Van looked up into the troubled eyes of his friend as two Production Assistants ran over and draped terrycloth bath robs around them.  They both walked reluctantly over to Tony, the director, who had called off the scene.  
  
    He looked, not pissed as much as . . . confused.  He watched as Van and Jake came to a stop in front of him looking like two school boys caught smoking in the bathroom.  He considered them for a minute.  
  
    “Well . . . that wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.”  Tony said quietly.  He knew these two were new to the whole cable television thing and all, but he really didn’t have the time or the money to coddle them.  “Guys, we need to get this scene done today.”  
  
    Jake shook his head, yes.  “I’m sorry, it was my fault.”  
  
    “Yeah, it is kind of in your court right now Jake since Van’s character is on all fours and kind of, taking it.”  Tony smiled wickedly.  “I know this is new to the both of you.  I’ve seen the U-Tube scenes of Luke and Noah and for network they were hot considering what you had to work with.  Now you’ve got to step up your game.  Look, there’s no dialogue in this scene at all for a reason.  Finnerman wants to get across the palatable sexual connection that these two characters have.  The connection that transcends death.  I think you two can do this but it’s not going to happen unless you both commit to this.”  
  
    Van looked down quietly.  Tony was correct, for this first sex scene it was kind of all hinging on whether Jake could pull it off.  He knew they were both nervous as hell about this scene but he’d thought that their friendship would help them get through it.  
  
    “Are we ready to try again, gentlemen?”  Tony asked.  
  
    “We’ll get it right this time, sir.”  Jake whispered as he turned back toward the set.  He tried not to meet Van’s eyes but he should have known that would be impossible.   
  
    Van saw the fear immediately and nearly stopped dead in his tracks.  He quickly guided Jake off to the side of the set.  “Are you okay?”  
  
    Jake looked down, around, everywhere but into his friend’s eyes.  “Yeah, yeah.”  
  
    “Bullshit.”  Van whispered as he looked over his shoulder in the director’s direction.  Luckily, he was bitching at his Assistant for the 800th time today.  “Jake . . . tell me.”  
  
    Jake swallowed loudly but he still couldn’t meet Van’s eyes.  “I thought that this wouldn’t be a problem.  You know, just another scene but . . . I was wrong.”   
  
    Van saw the nearly defeated look on Jake’s face and he felt bad for his best friend.  He knew how it felt.  If he had to do a straight sex scene with a woman he’d probably feel the same way.  He quickly reached out and gripped Jake’s forearm.  “Look.  It’s just me, okay.”  
  
    Jake looked up slowly and saw the truth in Van’s eyes.   
  
    “It’s acting.  It’s a scene, nothing more.”   Van continued trying to sooth his friend.  “I have your back, just like I know you have mine.”  
  
    Jake swallowed thickly.  “It’s just, you know, it’s real.  I knew we’d have to do the sex scenes and all but . . . “ Jake shook his head and laughed drily.  “There’s nothing between you and me but the thin fabric of these little “jewel sacks.”  
  
    “I know.  I know.”  Van said, trying not to blush.  When they had said full-frontal nudity they really meant it.  The only thing not shown was their cocks and balls.  Somehow he thought he’d be the one with the biggest problem but Jake was having an even harder time of it.  “We can do this.  Okay?”  
  
    “Yeah.”  Jake smiled weakly.   
  
    “Jake.”  Van began and gripped both of Jake’s arms to get his attention.  “We’ve got to nail this.  We both know how important this scene is.  I know you can do it.  Just go with it.  Let yourself go and I’ve got you covered.”   
  
    Jake’s eyes shoot up and widened.  
  
    Van chuckled.  “You know what I mean, dork.  Just let go.  Let the emotions take you wherever it leads and I’ll be there.”  
  
    Jake smiled and nodded.   
  
    “On set!”  Tony called from the other side of the set.  
  
    Jake and Van both jumped inadvertently and hurried over to take their marks.  Jake kept his eyes averted as Van handed his robe to the Production Assistant and got up on the bed on all fours.  Jake handed his robe over and stepped up behind him.  He closed his eyes trying to clear his mind and get into the zone.  
  
    He wasn’t Jake Silbermann, actor.  He was Guillaume, vampire, about to have heart pounding, cable television rated sex with Baptiste.  He opened his eyes and envisioned Guillaume’s feelings.   
  
    “Action!”  Tony called.  
  
    Jake stood with his hands again on Van’s hips and didn’t re-start the thrusting.  Tony had said that they had some leeway and to use it.  They were to make these characters their own and he wanted Jake and Van to use their familiarity to their character’s advantage.  Jake didn’t think that Guillaume and Baptiste’s relationship was totally all about the sex it was about love, soul-knotted forever longing, and desire.

    Jake leaned forward, his lips hovering over Van’s long, finely muscled  back.  His eyes sliding shut, he slowly started mouthing his way up the spin beneath him.  Laying wet, open-mouthed kisses on each vertebra he encountered.  Lips cool against heated skin.

  
   He felt Van tense at the unexpected touch.  True to his word, Van was there for him, in the moment back arching into the sensation.  With each softly placed kiss a shudder seemed to rock Van’s body.  Van stilled as Jake pulled back slightly and blew a breath across the wet skin.  A soft moan escaping his lips as he dropped his head, goose bumps erupting all over.  His eyes flying open as strong arms, sure and quick, encircled his chest pulling him up to his knees and drawing him back against a slick chest.

   Jake had done just what Van had said.  He had let go, was letting the emotions take him where they wanted and they were leading right to Van.  His body firm beneath his hands. 

   Hands that were driving Van crazy as Jake spread his palms across Van’s tense stomach. Van placed his hands on top of Jake’s, slotting their fingers together, slowing their progress and guiding them.  Van leaned his head back onto the solid shoulder behind him, closing his eyes and reveling in the eroticism of the simple act of touching.  Guiding Jake in the exploration of the body under their joined hands.

   

    Jake stood, his head alongside Van’s as he watched as his fingertips were being lead on their discovery of each curve, each sharp angle of the body under his hands.  He sucked in a quick breath as the feather light touch guided one hand upward until his seeking fingertips encountered one peaked nipple.  “Fuck, yeah.”  Van gasped out as his body shuddered from the barely there touch.

    Jake smiled slowly.  Watching as the man pressed against him was coming apart a small piece at a time, simply from the sense of touch.  A groan seized him as he suddenly dropped his head forward, laying his forehead on top of Van’s shoulder.  His other hand, forgotten, being glided down.  Voyage of exploration far from complete as his fingers slid into a silky mass of curls.  “Oh, God.”  He swore.

 

 

   “CUT!”  Tony’s voice rang out, violently ripping into both Jake and Van’s fogged  consciousness.  They both stilled instantly.

    “That’s it!  Not what I was expecting, but erotic as hell.”  Tony said smiling, seemingly oblivious to the position the two actors were frozen in.  “That one’s in the can.  We’ll see you two tomorrow.”

    Everyone seemed to be in motion at once and they all seemed to be pointedly not looking in Van and Jake’s direction.  Hands that were only a second ago everywhere suddenly vanished as if only a dream.  Van quickly tried to assemble his scattered thoughts and grabbed the offered robe from out of the PA’s hand.  He was about to step back off the bed when he heard a soft, “please don’t move” whispered in his ear.

    Van slowly turned his head to catch sight of Jake’s mortified expression as he was trying to pull on his tangled robe.  As Van shifted his ass meet a most pronounced Jake Silbermann erection.  Van froze.  His eyes locked with Jake’s and there was something in Jake’s eyes that he’d never seen when looking at him . . . need.

    Van turned quicker than he thought possible and he knew quicker than Jake had thought possible.  He lifted his robe clad arms and grabbed and untangle Jake’s robe.  All the while letting his robe hang open covering Jake’s groin area from the passing crew members.  Van watched as Jake’s lowered eyes slowly rose to meet his own as Jake’s arms finally found the sleeves. 

    Van pulled the robe up over Jake’s shoulders and their gaze locked.  “I’ve got you, Jake.”

 

 

* * *

    
    The dressing room door softly clicked shut behind him as Van kept a watchful eye on Jake.  After getting the robe on he had quickly turned his dazed friend around and practically shoved him toward the hallway leading to their dressing rooms.  The walk hadn’t been long but he could feel the silent distance growing between them with each step they took.

    Jake’s arousal wasn’t really that unexpected, hell it wasn’t even that unusual on set.  It was a running joke at As The World Turns that you could count on one hand the number of times Billy didn’t get a hard on when filming scenes with Marnie. 

    It wouldn’t have been a problem between them before.  Before Billy’s questions that he didn’t have the answers to.  Before Tyler had confessed his jealousies.  Before Van had started thinking about Jake like that.  Before the dreams of blue eyes blown wide with lust now waking him most nights. 

    Van watched as Jake stood with his back turned to him.  The set of his shoulders telegraphing his tension.  He took a step toward his friend intent on reaching out and squeezing his shoulder, letting him know that he was here and everything was fine, but stopped short. 

        They had both been trying to make it seem that everything was fine, but along the way they had changed.  Whatever this was that had been happening since starting True Blood they didn’t seem like themselves anymore.  Jake confused and tense, afraid of every reaction on set.  Him, looking back and questioning everything between them and everything that went on now.  He wanted.  He wanted their ease with one another back.  He wanted their gentle smiles and touches back.  He wanted . . . he wanted them back.

    “It’s just a scene, Jake.”  Van whispered into the silence of the room.  “It doesn’t mean anything.”

    If possible, Jake’s body seemed to go even stiffer.  Van could see Jake looking straight ahead at the wall, breathing raggedly as he seemed to be struggling for control.

    “Just a scene?”  Jake asked, voice rough with emotion.

    “Yeah, it was just Guillaume and Baptiste, not us.” Van said trying desperately to keep his voice steady.  Trying to salvage some semblance of what Jake and Van was.

    Van took an involuntary step back as Jake suddenly turned.  His breath caught at the sight of Jake’s blue eyes nearly black with emotion and a fierce, almost frightening look on his face.  He was pressed up against the wall before he even realized Jake had moved.  Jake’s hands fisting into his hair, holding his face still. 

    Jake closed his eyes and whispered.  “It wasn’t Baptist.”

    “What?”  Van asked confused, not understanding what he’d heard.

    “It wasn’t Baptist I was thinking of during that scene.  Through the whole thing it was you that I was touching.  It was you, just you.”

    Jake pressed in closer and he was still hard.  Blindingly, achingly hard.   His erection pressing against Van, and what he wasn’t surprised to realize was Van’s equally hard cock.  He had to bite down on his bottom lip not to groan.

    Jake was holding him in place, their bodies flush together.  His face just inches away, their lips only a breath apart.  “Just you.”

    He opened his eyes, staring deep into Van’s own shocked eyes. 

    “Me?”  Van whimpered.

    Jake nodded his head, yes.  Watching, considering.  “Just let me do this.”

    Before Van had time to wonder what this was, Jake leaned in and captured Van’s lower lip between his own.  Jake was kissing him.  Van froze.

    It was as soft and tentative as all first kisses should be.  For a second Van wasn’t even participating.  His mind shocked into inactivity by the fact that Jake. Was. Kissing. Him. 

    Van’s brain finally caught up with the whole kissing thing.  His lips tingled from the whisper soft slide of Jake’s mouth against his own.  Unconsciously Van titled his head slightly, deepening the kiss and slotting their mouths into a perfect fit.

    The warm, hesitant glide of Jake’s tongue along his bottom lip sending a shudder down his spin, a soft moan escaping as their kiss slowly ended.  Foreheads pressed together, both breathing raggedly trying to gain some much needed oxygen.

    Van was standing still, eyes pressed shut, amazed at how hypersensitive his body was at the moment to everywhere Jake’s body and his touched.  Every strand of hair clinched in Jake’s now trembling hands, each rise and fall of chests pressed to one another, and especially the pressure of each of their now painfully engorged erections were all small spots of electricity. 

    Van swallowed trying to work moisture into his throat.  “What are we doing?”

    Jake’s eyes opened, revealing pupils blown wide with only the thinnest ring of blue visible.  He saw that Van’s eyes were closed, his pink kissed lips caught between his teeth. 

    “Look at me, Van.”  He whispered, voice barely above the sound of Van’s still rapid breathing.

    “I can’t.”  Van murmured as he shook his head slowly. 

    “Van?”  Jake said as he nudged Van’s forehead with his own.

    Van swallowed convulsively.  “If I open them than I’m not going to see my best friend any more because you’re not.  I’m afraid of losing that.”

    Jake’s sighed as he slowly unclinched his now aching hands, drawing them out of Van’s hair and traced his fingers down either side of Van’s neck.  Jake watched in new fascination as Van trembled and goose bumps sprang up all along his skin.  His hands came to rest on Van’s shoulders and he slowly ran his thumbs along the man’s jaw line.  He followed the path his thumbs took and wondered when having his hands on Van had gone from being what they did to being just a little bit perfect.

    “When you open them, you’ll just see what Tyler and Stephanie have always seen.”  Jake leaned forward, whispering into Van’s ear. 

    Van stilled, Tyler’s words ‘there’s a way you look at him’ and Jake’s words intermingling in his head.  He reluctantly slid them open and hesitated, eyes locked on the floor, before slowly raising them up to meet Jake’s and knew that he’d never be able to look away again.  Where there had always been friendship, familiarity, warmth, affection there was now sometime more.  Something too new, too raw, too much right now to put a name to.

    Jake breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Van’s eyes finally met his own and he watched as the fear that initially was there give way to realization. 

    Van reached up before he could think to stop himself, sliding his hands around Jake’s neck up into his hair.  He tightened his hands in the black curls, keeping their foreheads pressed together.  His mind was racing.  All the possibilities that never were there before but seemed to be in front of them now.  He realized he wanted them.  All of them.

    “It was you.”   Van breathed out.  “In the scene.”

    Jake swallowed as he heard the confirmation of what he already knew.  Had known as soon as the scene had begun, had known it when Van had gripped his hands.  It was never about Guillaume and Baptiste.

    “It’s always been you.”  They both whispered the words simultaneously. 

    A giant smile spread across Jake’s face as he leaned back and watched a soft laugh escape Van’s lips.

    “What?”  Jake asked.

    Van shook his head, his eyes alight.  “That was just . . . a really couply thing to do.”

    Jake smirked.  “Yeah. Yeah, it was.”

 

 

 

THE END

 


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